Ex-mid-day lensman shares candid images from Bollywood sets in new book

Fawzan Husain has had many loves And we arenrsquot even talking women He started out in the marketing department of midday but his love for writing saw him pursue a course in journalism The young reporter disappointed at deskies butchering his copy turned to photography ldquoa picture wasnrsquot always hacked as badlyrdquo In 1989 he took up photography fulltime with this paper and later moved to a news magazine but quit photo journalism in 2006 to focus on yet another love BollywoodVikram Bhatt Tanuja Chandra Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan JoharItrsquos on Hindi films sets he realised that he had taken his best shots From 2003 to 2015 Husain 50 spent an average of eight hours on film sets to get the shot he wantedDharmendra and Hema Malini on the sets of Shimla Mirchi unreleased ldquoDharmendra plays a politician who is wooing Hema Malini The chemistry they share is amazingrdquoKatrina Kaif on the sets of Phantom ldquoIt took me fourandahalf months to acquire permission to shoot on the sets of Phantom and then I got two minutes and eight shots After that Kaif decided she didnrsquot want to be shot and I was shooed awayrdquoThe best of these have made it to a coffee table book that launches this weekSanjay Dutt during a smoke break on the sets of Munna Bhai MBBS ldquoThe light was great so I had to take a shot even though most stars donrsquot like themselves being photographed smoking I got scolded by his assistant The best thing to do in such situations is say sorry and move aheadrdquoOm Puri and Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Dev ldquoOm Puri kept goofing up his lines Since they were shooting on film every time he forgot his lines they lost reel In the end even Bachchan said lsquoOh God when will this happenrsquordquoldquoBollywood taught me patience There nothing is planned you have to hang on for however long it takes for that next best shotrdquo Husain says often it was the actress for whom hersquod waitFearless Nadia ldquoSo Nikhil Lakshman my boss at midday had sent a photographer to shoot her stuntwoman and actress Mary Evans Wadia but she sent him off without a single picture Without telling me this he challenged me lsquoYou are inexperienced you canrsquot get itrsquo I wanted to prove myself I pretended to be a deaf and dumb when I reached her home She was kind and took me in Then I told her if she posed for me Irsquod earn R30 She agreed God bless her soulrdquoldquoWhoever it may be a beauty always charges up a set Right from the spot boy to the director everyone is suddenly awake and raring to gordquo It was imperative that he remain on the sidelines of courseBipasha Basu and Nawazuddin Siddiqui shoot a bedroom scene in Aatma ldquoI had some really nice shots of her Bipasha Basu in the bath as well but after a few shots I was shooed away since she didnrsquot want anyone to see her either in bed or in the showerrdquoWorking on the periphery hersquod avoid the starsrsquo gaze ldquoThey are uncomfortable with the presence of a camera other than the one that films them I donrsquot think most of them noticed me I was just another lsquostill dadarsquordquoThe gatekeeper eats lunch at Mehboob Studios ldquoEveryone leaves their work during lunch time which is free on sets This is the only man who canrsquot do that as he is still workingrdquoAlthough publishing The Silver Screen and Beyond Up Close and Personal with the Bollywood film industry Magnate Publishing House he calls a dream come true he compares his fate to that of a beggar he once metPriyanka Chopra rehearses her lines on the sets of Fashion ldquoItrsquos the first time I saw Priyanka and I was not impressedrdquoldquoI asked him how many people actually give you money every day He said lsquoIf I ask five people one willrsquo In my case I had to talk to eight people in every production house before one would offer me permission to shootrdquoKetan Mehta and Deepa Sahi ldquoThis is from a shoot I did for midday I needed a prop so I found a ladder from God knows whererdquo